Staff and students invited to celebrate Wanneroo Secondary College Joondalup campus’s 10th anniversary

Chris Leggett (manager and vet coordinator), former student Casey Kennedy (Carramar) and current students Lepeta Jackson and Mikayla Edwards both Year 11. Picture: Martin Kennealey

PAST staff and students are invited to celebrate 10 years of Wanneroo Secondary College’s Joondalup campus.

The campus hosts an engagement program for about 90 Year 11 and 12 students who attend for three days a week to study English, maths, health and a business certificate.

“On the remaining two days a week, they attend Tafe or workplace learning in an industry they are interested in,” managing coordinator Chris Leggett said.

“Some students are even lucky enough to complete a school-based traineeship as part of their studies.

“The program enables students who require a different educational pathway to mainstream senior school to achieve their WACE (WA Certificate of Education) and prepare them for Tafe, apprenticeships or the workplace.”

Mr Leggett said he had been at the campus since its inception and had seen some “great achievements over the years with a majority of students going on to achieve their WACE and get employment in their chosen areas”.

“These students who were originally disengaged from secondary school find the Joondalup campus more suitable to their individual needs and so begin to thrive,” he said.

“Though the Joondalup campus follows the same rules and standards as the Wanneroo Secondary College, of which the students are still enrolled, the environment is more like a workplace with the students and teachers modelling more of an employer/employee relationship.

“Case in point is Casey Kennedy; a graduate of the campus in 2014.

“Casey is currently studying a diploma in Family, Child and Youth Intervention and has returned to the campus to do her practical training.

“This is great for the students to see a returning student and Casey can pass on to the students what is expected of them and also what they can expect when they leave school in Year 12.”

The campus will host a 10th anniversary reunion and sausage sizzle from noon to 3pm on Wednesday, November 1.

The campus has invited other local high schools to tour the campus this year with the hope of being able to enrol more students that feel the campus could be a better fit for them to complete Year 11 and 12 from 2018.